Gulf banks sought fresh capital and broader fee income during the week. ADIB opened its rights issue following strong financing growth, while FAB acquired fund administrator Yasira to expand its services for institutional clients. Financing developments extended beyond banks’ balance sheets. Qatar eased collateral requirements for SME lending based on verified payment revenues, while Saudi Infra agreed funding for HUMAIN’s computing and power infrastructure. The UAE central bank’s supervisory priorities placed fraud prevention, operational resilience, AI and digital assets under scrutiny. Read more on the week’s key developments: 1. FAB acquires Bahrain’s Yasira to expand securities services First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) announced on 9 November that it had acquired 100% of Bahrain-based Yasira Financial Services, adding fund administration and trust services to its securities services business. Yasira handles fund accounting, investor reporting, capital calls and distributions across public and private markets, including private equity, venture capital and real estate. The acquisition complements FAB’s custody, cash management and foreign-exchange services. Financial terms were not disclosed. FAB’s non-interest income grew 3% in the first nine months of 2026, compared with 11% growth in net interest income. Integrating Yasira with FAB’s custody and cash management operations gives the bank more services to offer each institutional client, while providing fund managers with an alternative to using separate administration and custody providers. 2. ADIB opens AED 1.75 billion rights issue following strong financing growth Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) opened subscriptions for its AED 1.75 billion ($476 million) rights issue on 10 November, following the start of rights trading on 4 November. Eligible shareholders received one right for every 34.14 existing shares, with each right allowing subscription for one new share at AED 16.45 ($4.48). The issue comprises approximately 106.38 million new shares. Rights trading closes on 16 November and subscriptions on 24 November, with the new shares expected to trade from 18 December. The capital raising follows financing growth of 25% year-on-year in the first nine months, ahead of deposit growth of 17%. The issue price represents a 28.8% discount to the reference share price of AED 23.10 ($6.29). The additional equity supports ADIB’s Vision 2035 growth strategy by providing capital to sustain financing expansion. 3. Gulf Bank receives approval to proceed with Islamic banking conversion Gulf Bank announced on 5 November that the Central Bank of Kuwait had approved its full conversion into a Sharia-compliant bank and authorised it to complete the remaining procedures. Approval was granted on 4 November, following preliminary approval in August 2025. Gulf Bank must still obtain registration as an Islamic bank before commencing Sharia-compliant operations. The conversion would bring an established conventional franchise into Kuwait’s Islamic banking market alongside Kuwait Finance House and Boubyan Bank. Gulf Bank’s net loans and advances rose 7% to KWD 6.3 billion (approximately $20.5 billion) in the first nine months of 2026, indicating the scale of the portfolio involved. Its competitive position will depend partly on how it transitions existing customer contracts and retains deposits through the change in operating model. 4. UAE central bank outlines 2027 priorities for financial sector supervision The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) outlined its 2027 regulatory priorities at a Financial Sector Supervisory Roundtable on 4 November. Discussions with bank and insurance executives covered governance, operational and cyber resilience, fraud prevention, and thematic supervisory reviews of AI and digital assets. The central bank also presented its 2027–2029 strategy and updates on the Financial Sector Assessment Programme. The agenda identified specific areas for supervisory attention, including the Financial Sector Security Operations Centre, the Anti-Fraud Operations Centre and an anti-fraud platform. For banks, the relevant preparation extends beyond individual technology controls to how security monitoring, fraud detection and incident response work together. The AI and digital-asset reviews also put banks’ deployment practices within the supervisory agenda. No new binding requirements or implementation deadlines were disclosed. 5. Saudi Infra and HUMAIN agree financing of up to $667 million for AI infrastructure Saudi Arabia’s National Infrastructure Fund (Infra) and HUMAIN announced on 9 November two financing agreements worth up to SAR 2.5 billion ($667 million). A facility of up to SAR 1.1 billion ($293 million) will fund graphics processing units representing approximately 25 megawatts of IT load. Up to SAR 1.4 billion ($373 million) will finance substations, transmission infrastructure and grid connections supporting future data-centre development with up to one gigawatt of IT capacity. The agreements were signed on 8 November. These are the first transactions announced under Infra’s AI Data Center Financing Program, following an earlier non-binding financing framework. They address two distinct financing risks: computing equipment faces rapid technological obsolescence, while power infrastructure supports a longer development horizon. That distinction affects loan tenors, collateral values and equipment-replacement assumptions. Financing grid connections also prepares sites for subsequent investment, giving Infra a role in making projects bankable for private and institutional financiers. 6. Emirates NBD’s Liv partners to integrate regulated US dollar stablecoin Liv by Emirates NBD announced on 9 November a partnership with Universal Digital and Aquanow to integrate USDU, a US dollar-backed stablecoin registered with the CBUAE, into its digital banking offering. Universal issues the token, backed by dollar reserves held with UAE banks and subject to publicly available monthly attestations. Aquanow supplies the digital-asset infrastructure. Liv also announced a 90-day zero-fee cryptocurrency trading promotion. The partnership builds on Liv’s cryptocurrency trading launch in 2025, adding a dollar-denominated token to the assets customers can access through its banking interface. It gives Liv a way to retain activity that might otherwise move to specialist digital-asset platforms. The 90-day zero-fee promotion prioritises transaction activity over immediate fee income. Whether that activity generates fee income will depend on customers continuing to trade once charges apply. 7. ADIB introduces real-time Egyptian pound transfers through Visa Direct Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) announced on 5 November the launch of real-time Egyptian pound transfers to eligible bank accounts in Egypt through Visa Direct. Customers can initiate transfers through ADIB’s mobile application around the clock, including weekends and public holidays. ADIB said it was the first UAE bank to offer this specific capability through Visa Direct. The launch extends its Remit service in a key UAE remittance corridor. Egyptians working in the UAE sent $3.6 billion home in FY2024/25, double the previous year’s $1.8 billion, according to Egypt’s Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS). ADIB’s service gives existing account holders a way to make these transfers within their banking app, competing for remittances they might otherwise send through exchange houses or specialist providers. 8. Qatar sets SME financing rules based on verified payment revenues Qatar Central Bank (QCB) announced on 9 November rules for financing micro, small and medium-sized enterprises against point-of-sale (POS) and other verified electronic-payment revenues. Financing is capped at 30% of average total annual revenues, with a repayment period of two years, including a grace period of no more than six months. Banks may consider revenues processed through their own POS devices or those supplied by other banks, as well as other substantiated electronic-payment streams within Qatar. The framework eases collateral requirements by using business revenues as a source of repayment. Allowing receipts processed by other banks to count means a lender need not also be the merchant’s POS provider. This could widen competition for SME borrowers, while making the completeness and reliability of payment records central to credit assessment. The revenue cap constrains the size of financing, but lenders still need to assess whether sales will generate sufficient cash after operating costs to service repayments. 9. Al Salam Bank’s nine-month profit rises 20.4% as fee and sukuk income grow Bahrain’s Al Salam Bank reported on 9 November a 20.4% year-on-year increase in net profit attributable to shareholders to BHD 70.1 million ($185.8 million) for the first nine months of 2026. Sukuk income rose 19.1% to $232.3 million, while net fee and commission income increased 16.6% to $63.2 million. Return on average equity improved to 17.2% from 16.4%, and the capital adequacy ratio stood at 24.9%. ASB Capital broadened its fund offering and participated in seven debt-capital-markets transactions across Saudi Arabia and Kuwait with aggregate issuance of $6.3 billion. Those activities give substance to the bank’s diversification strategy beyond financing income. Its liquidity coverage ratio of 269.3% and net stable funding ratio of 124.1% also leave liquidity headroom for further business expansion. 10. Bank AlJazira launches Tier 2 sukuk offering to strengthen regulatory capital Saudi Arabia’s Bank AlJazira announced on 5 November a private placement of riyal-denominated Tier 2 sukuk under its SAR 3 billion ($800 million) programme. The offering targets eligible investors, with a minimum subscription of SAR 1 million ($267,000). The sukuk mature in ten years and are callable after five. Subscriptions are expected to close on 6 December, with the final size and profit rate subject to market conditions. AlJazira Capital and Al Rajhi Capital are joint lead managers and bookrunners. Bank AlJazira’s net financing rose 14% year-on-year to SAR 123.4 billion ($32.9 billion) at end-September, while its total capital adequacy ratio stood at 19.3%. The bank had already issued SAR 1.46 billion ($390 million) of Tier 1 sukuk earlier in 2026. The proposed Tier 2 offering would provide additional regulatory capital to support its expanding financing book without issuing shares, although it will not increase Common Equity Tier 1 capital. What to watch Türkiye’s central bank publishes its Inflation Report on 12 November and Financial Stability Report on 27 November. The Jordan–EU Investment Conference takes place on 19 November.
